Wednesday, 23 April 2014

BELIEVE

We as humans need to believe. It’s what drives us, shapes
us, and makes us who we are. Show me a human that believes in nothing, and
well, they at least believe in nihilism. Hence, believing in nothing is
believing in something; you see, we ultimately need to believe.

The thing that intrigues me most about belief is not just
what we choose to believe in (although that can be surreal, amusing and absurd all
in itself), but whom we choose to believe. The importance and credence we give certain people, almost exalting them to idol status, just to
uphold our beliefs. It happens all the time, with religious figures, politicians, governments,
people in authority (although these are the exact people I do NOT believe in,
but then again, that’s me). Some people can hear something all day from one
source and not take the fact on board and then said from the mouth of the ‘right’
person (right to them of course), and suddenly this statement becomes gospel. Think of the
faith we put in doctors. We go to them with a problem, often ignoring our own intuition,
listen to their advice, which we gather is steeped in experience and education
(let’s hope so, or hello malpractice), and then take their advice without a
second thought. Then again, the Internet has made us all bit more skeptical in regards to the medical realm and made us all think we can diagnose ourselves. Which at
times is useful and at times dangerous at best…according to Google at any one
point, one can either have restless leg syndrome, meningitis or a rare blood
disorder.

When you look at belief on a widespread scale, you can truly
get a sense of its importance on society. Humans believe in religion, the
intangible, things they can’t necessarily touch but nonetheless hold a formidable power…love,
hope, faith, a moral code. They believe in aliens, conspiracies, advertising companies
and the fact that kale and super foods will make them live longer. Hell, we’ll
believe just about anything if the source is inspiring enough. Just flip
through the channels on your television and you can find a hundred different
people trying to convince you to believe in something. Believe in their
product, their manifesto, their politics, their juicing techniques, and their
method to make your butt look like a 19 year old. It really doesn’t matter what
it is, they just want you to believe, and yes, often belief begets buying their
beliefs in a literal sense. For some belief can be a costly thing.

The problem for me is not only the importance we place on
those spouting this information (I mean let’s be honest, one human spouting
truth and knowledge is just that, a human ripe with error and agenda. It’s their truth that they want to be our truth), but
the transience of our beliefs. I have always respected those that believe in
organized religion. It’s not for me, and never will be, but the steadfast
commitment of their beliefs certainly earns my admiration. But saying this,
things get less delightful in my world when those same believers try to force
me to believe, or at least tell me that my beliefs are less than theirs because
they’re not one in the same. It’s also fascinating to me when beliefs quickly
wade into that murky water of convenience. You know how that goes, ‘I believe
as so long as the circumstances suit me.’ Or as I call it, the pick
and mix of belief systems, e.g. 'I believe we should all love one another as the
bible says, but let’s not love that guy over there cause he believes and
behaves not to my liking.' Ah humans, we’re an amusing and hypocritical sort.

So what do you believe? And more importantly, why do you
believe it? Is it in fashion, or so people think you're moral, upstanding, intelligent? Or is it fundamentally impossible for you to believe anything else? It is an interesting question to ask oneself and you just may realize
that things you thought you believed in were leftover from childhood or were things you were always told you must believe in from the powers that be. Merely
having children forces one to reexamine their beliefs. On a daily basis with
the King I am forced to question my beliefs, or at least find myself examining
them (Now why on earth am I telling him to believe in that?? I gave up
believing in that years ago!). And you suddenly realize that like it or not, you’re handing
down your own (often ever-evolving) beliefs to your children, but also hoping upon hope they’ll find
their own way to establish a belief system…ahem, in the hope that their beliefs will
make you proud of course and not utterly terrified.